Teacher-student sexual relationships should be criminal in Montana

It’s news that sucks the air right out of you – a sexual relationship unmasked between a teacher and a student.

In Great Falls last week public school administrators held a news conference to announce a high school teacher resigned in lieu of termination after an investigation found credible evidence of just such a relationship. The GFPS board will decide later this month whether to request that the Board of Education revoke his teaching license for immoral conduct.

Because the student is 17, however, the alleged relationship may not be a crime in Montana.

It’s time for our state to have a conversation about why and consider making a change.
Consent laws are complicated, created to protect younger members of our community from being exploited but stopping short of waging punitive judgments on young people who engage in consensual sexual activity.

There are relationships that are criminal, however. In Montana, an inmate at a jail or prison can’t give consent in a sexual relationship. If personnel are found to have a relationship with an inmate, no matter what that inmate’s age it, the staff member can be charged with rape.

So why isn’t that the case in our state when a school staff member crosses that moral line and engages in a sexual relationship with a student, whether that student is 16 or 18 or 19?

It’s a discussion worth pursuing before the 2019 Legislative session.

In a 2010 Washington State Supreme Court opinion Justice Debra L. Stephens in State of Washington v. Hirschfelder wrote "That the legislature saw fit to criminalize sex between school employees and high school students—even those who reach the age of majority while registered as students—is a policy choice that recognizes the special position of trust and authority teachers hold over their students."

And that is exactly why we think it should be criminal for a teacher to have a sexual relationship with a high school student of any age.